Duke Ellington Background Information
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an African American composer, pianist and jazz band leader. He was born into a middle-class family in Washington, D.C. on April 29, 1899.Although best known for composing, leading and performing about 2,000 "big band" jazz pieces, Ellington also composed orchestral, chamber and solo piano works in the classical genre.
Duke's Early Years
Young Edward began studying the piano at age seven. He was about 17 years old when he began playing piano professionally. By age 20 he was a bandleader, playing at social events. In 1922 Ellington moved to New York City, where he played with both theater orchestras and jazz bands. His first Broadway score was for a 1924 musical Chocolate Kiddies, a show which did not fare well. Also in 1924, Ellington became the leader of a six-member jazz band previously known as the Elmer Snowden Band. Within two years the Ellington Orchestra had eleven musicians in its ranks.
James Clyde Sellman writes in Africana Encyclopedia: "For nearly half a century Duke Ellington led the premier American big band, and through his compositions and performances he brought artistic credibility to African American jazz. Ellington played the piano, but his orchestra was his true instrument."
James Clyde Sellman writes in Africana Encyclopedia: "For nearly half a century Duke Ellington led the premier American big band, and through his compositions and performances he brought artistic credibility to African American jazz. Ellington played the piano, but his orchestra was his true instrument."
Ellington's Style
Ellington established the distinctive style of his orchestra with a series of recordings in 1927-28. The songs were timed to fit 78 r.p.m. records, which could only record about three minutes per side. The titles included Ellington's 1928 composition Black Beauty and became an enduring part of the orchestra's repertoire. The ensemble gained additional national publicity from its performance in the 1930 film Check and Double Check. Ellington's first longer recording was of his composition Creole Rhapsody. It was 8 1/2 minutes long and took up two sides of a 78 r.p.m. record. Ellington and his orchestra toured the U.S. frequently during the 1930s and enjoyed success in Europe during tours there in 1933 and 1939. In 1938 the orchestra took on Billy Strayhorn, who would be Ellington's closest collaborator for the next 30 years.
Miscellaneous Facts
Ellington participated in the Civil Rights movement from the 1940s on. In 1941 he wrote the score for the musical Jump for Joy, a show intended to debunk common movie stereotypes of African American popular culture. During the Carnegie Hall premier of Black, Brown, and Beige he told the audience of society figures that people of all colors were backing the war effort to defend the red, white and blue.
Ellington's final years
On the occasion of his 70th birthday party in 1969 he was given the Medal of Freedom by President Richard Nixon. In 1973 Ellington was diagnosed with lung cancer. Barbara Wright-Pryor says:
- During the final stages of his bout with lung cancer, Duke was hospitalized at Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in NYC and had a keyboard in his room on which he continued to compose and play daily until too ill to do so.